"Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda"

1649 -
1734

The "Council Book of the Corporation
of Drogheda Vol 1, From the Year 1649 to 1734", was edited by the Rev. T.
Gogarty and printed in Drogheda in 1915. The book records the minutes of
meetings held by the Corporation. Some notable events during the above period
were the sacking of Drogheda by Cromwell in 1649, the Battle of the Boyne in
1690, the unjust tightening of the liberties of Roman Catholics under the Penal
Laws, and the Jacobite Rebellions. There are few explicit references to these
events in the minutes though their effects can be seen in the general work of
the Corporation. See below for Rev. Gogarty's introduction to the original
publication.

One disadvantage of Rev. Gogarty's
book is the lack of an index. With this in mind I have compiled a name index
with some 7,300 entries, covering approximately 2,500 individuals who lived in
Drogheda between 1649 and 1734. A normal index would give only the full name and
page number. What is presented in the following pages is an unedited version of
my index giving the Surname, Name, Title,
Page Number, Year
and Comment. I have chosen this version for
the web site as it is of greater genealogical value and may be of greater
assistance to those looking for ancestors in Drogheda. Because of this, there is
a lot of repetition of names, but this in itself can be genealogically helpful.

The earliest Church Records for
Drogheda are as follows (Source: Ryan's Irish Records)

St. Peter's Church of Ireland:

Baptisms - 1654; Marriages - 1654;
Burials - 1653

St. Mary's Church of Ireland:

Baptisms - 1763; Marriages - 1763;
Burials - 1763

St. Peter's Roman Catholic:

Baptisms - 1744; Marriages - 1804

For those wishing to do further
research, the "Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda" was reprinted by the
County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society in hardback in 1988. It is
available from the Society at the vary reasonable price of 13 Euro, plus postage
etc. Contact the Society at clahj@eircom.net
for further details or visit their web site at
http://www.clahs.ie. Also, check Ebay,
where the book is frequently available. The "Council Book of the
Corporation of Drogheda" may
also be found on some book dealers' web sites at totally outrageous prices.

Note on Names:
I have recorded the names as they are found in the book. Please be aware of
considerable surname variations (to name but a few - Leigh can also be found under
Ley,
Rencher is also found as Ranger, and Wherley has many variants, Whirlowe,
Whorley, Whirloe, etc.). For the most part names beginning with "F" are recorded as "ff" and
sometimes "Ff". I have also retained the often quaint English spelling
found in the minutes.

(Index updated with
corrections and additional comments of genealogical interest, 19 April 2007)

For the Name Index to
the Folio of the Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda 1734-1758,
click HERE

Introductory Note
by The Rev. T. Gogarty to the Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda,
From the Year 1649 to 1734, Drogheda 1915:

"Scarcely any
public-spirited interest has ever been taken in the Records of the Corporation
of Drogheda. They are hidden away, shelved in the Record Room of the
Corporation: few know of their existence, and fewer still have ever concerned
themselves to ask what they are or what they contain. One distinguished student
of Irish municipal history informed me that he was under the impression that the
Drogheda Records were lost. They are not lost. If things were as they should be
such impressions as this should not exist. In other towns the citizens have
thought differently of their Records. The Records of the Corporations of Cork,
Youghal, Kinsale and Belfast have been given to the public almost in their
entirety. The Corporation of Dublin have put into the safe keeping of print, and
into the hands of every Irishman who wishes to see them, Calendars of the
Records of Dublin. The Records of Galway and Waterford have in great part been
printed, and they and those of Kilkenny have been largely drawn upon to
illustrate the history of those towns. D'Alton perused the Records of the
Drogheda Corporation, and he abstracted a share of information from them. But
while not wishing in the least to discredit the good work which that historian
has done for Drogheda, it may he said that he barely skimmed the local Records.
Since D' Alton's day, Sir John Gilbert, the greatest archivist Ireland has
known, examined the Records. He found them valuable, and he tried to come to
terms with the Corporation to have them transcribed and published. The
Corporators, however, I am told, treated his offers slightingly. They do not
seem to have thought the expense involved either desirable or within their
power. More fortunately situated than he was, I have been able through the
kindness of the present Corporation, and without any expense to them, to make a
transcript of the Records from 1649 to 1804, but I pursued the project of
publication hopelessly, until the Editor of the "Drogheda Independent" was made
aware of my transcript. He at once very generously undertook to print them
serially in his columns, and to then produce them in book form. This fine offer
at once lightened the financial risks of the venture to publish them, and I have
gladly accepted it.

The Drogheda Records begin at the General Assembly which preceded the storming
of Drogheda by Cromwell in 1649. They continue almost without interruption down
to the Records of the latest meeting of the Corporation. They are contained in
several volumes, of which it is proposed to print Vols. I. and II., 1649 to
1804. It will appear clear that earlier Records survived the siege. We find
references to laws which were contained in an earlier book called the Red Book,
and there is also mention of an earlier White Book. These volumes have been
lost. It is clear from the handwriting that the earliest page of the Minutes,
namely, that recording the General Assembly of April, 1649, was not written
until the September Assembly of that year, so that Volume I was begun a few days
after Cromwell departed from the siege. These Volumes contain, naturally,
immense stores of local information: they will be found invaluable by the
historian who will write the history of Drogheda. They contain detailed
information concerning the Corporation itself, and concerning every building and
object of interest in the town. They tell the history of the walls and gates and
bridge and some of the Churches. They contain the history of the markets and
their locations, of the various properties of the Corporation, the list of the
Mayors, Sheriffs, Aldermen and Councillors, their interests, their difference of
opinions and politics. The history of the Corporation set up during the
Cromwellian Protectorate, of that established by James II., and of that other
interesting body nominated by William III, may be minutely gathered from these
pages. It will be seen that almost throughout the Corporation was tenaciously
Protestant in composition, and its Town Clerks have left a full and rather
pitiful history behind them of its dealings with the Catholic and native traders
and merchants. The genealogist will find a perfect mine of information in these
pages. There are many families surviving in Drogheda and its suburbs whose
genealogical trees can be made more perfect by searches here. Those who are
interested in such social questions, as the care of the poor, the organisation
of trade and labour, will find abundant matter for study. In the older days
these problems confronted our forbears. They solved them differently from us,
and it is a moot question whether they did not solve them more successfully.
Now, while all this historical matter should be interesting and useful as a
light upon the past of the Town of Drogheda, it will at the same time bring help
to the historian of Ireland. All Irishmen are anxious to see a proper and full
history of the country written. The Drogheda Records contain their quota of
valuable material, and there seems no reason why they should be hidden any
longer on shelves where only the moth may devour, and where, moreover, they are
not beyond the danger of utter destruction by fire. If such a fire as occurred
in the Dublin Council Room a few years ago befell in Drogheda, it is likely
enough that the volumes, which are now about to be placed beyond that danger,
would be destroyed. For all these reasons, and on behalf of posterity, the
present work of publication has been undertaken. In the meantime, it is to be
hoped, that the interest of Drogheda men may be awakened, and however dry those
old Records may appear to them, at first sight, that they will come to be valued
as they ought, and that the enlightened public spirit of the Paper which has
undertaken their publication may be properly appreciated."
T. GOGARTY